The global PC market recorded year-on-year growth of 9% in Q2 2020 as supply issues eased to meet increased demand, according to Canalys data, with total shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations reaching 72.9 million units.
The rebound was driven by notebooks which have become the device of choice for businesses, students and consumers working from home due to coronavirus. Shipments of notebooks and mobile workstations were up 24% while desktops and desktop workstations fell by 26%.
HP regained share in Q2 to become the best-performing vendor, pushing ahead of Lenovo, with a record 18.1 million client PC shipments. Lenovo shipped 17.4 million units, while Dell shipped 12 million units, with Apple and Acer rounding out the top five, growing 13% and 21% respectively.
“Notebooks have single-handedly pulled the PC market out of depression,” Canalys research director, Rushabh Doshi said.
“They have been crucial in ensuring that the service, government and education sectors can continue to function in the face of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty. After years of smartphone-centred innovation, application developers are turning their attention to the PC, where productivity and performance take precedence.”
North America and EMEA grew the most in Q2 with shipments up 11% and 25% respectively. Conversely, Latin America saw shipments fall 13% year-on-year. In Asia Pacific (exc Japan), the Q2 shipment bump of 1% was not large enough to counter the 15% shortfall in Q1.